A Japanese news agency is reporting that North Korea may be readying a long-range missile launch

North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and senior Chinese Communist Party
official Liu Yunshan (R) wave during celebration of the 70th
anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of
Korea.Reuters/KCNA
KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea may be preparing to launch a
long-range missile as soon as in a week, Japan's Kyodo news
agency reported early on Thursday, citing an unnamed Japanese
government official.

The official cited signs of possible preparations for a missile
launch based on analysis of satellite imagery of the North's
Tongchang-ri missile test site on its west coast.

The report came as U.N. Security Council members were discussing
fresh sanctions against the North after it conducted its fourth
nuclear test on Jan. 6. The North is already under sanctions for
its nuclear and missile programmes.

North Korea last conducted a long-range rocket launch in late
2012, successfully putting an object into orbit in what experts
believed to be part of its effort to build an intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM).

The North is also seen to be working to miniaturise a nuclear
warhead to mount on a missile, but many experts say it is some
time away from perfecting the technology.

The Kyodo report gave no other details about the satellite
imagery analyses.

On Wednesday in Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on the need for a
significant new U.N. Security resolution against the North but
there were few signs of concrete progress.

U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific
Command, said on Wednesday before the Kyodo report was published
that North Korea's actions underscored the importance of
strengthening an alliance among Japan, South Korea and the United
States.

He said he supported reviewing the possibility of converting a
U.S. Aegis missile defense test site in Hawaii into a
combat-ready facility to bolster U.S. defenses against ballistic
missile attacks, an initiative first reported by Reuters last
week.

Harris also told reporters after his speech at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington that it made
sense to put a mobile missile defense system known as the
Terminal High Area Defense in South Korea.

That decision must be made jointly by the United States and South
Korea, he said.

North Korea said on Jan. 6 it exploded a hydrogen bomb, although
the United States and other governments and experts voiced
scepticism that it had made such a technological advance.